What is linguistic borrowing?
2024Linguistic borrowing is the process by which words are adopted or adapted from one language to another. The words that are borrowed are known in linguistics as loanwords. Linguistic borrowing has been happening worldwide for millennia, as different peoples and cultures interact, influencing and in some cases controlling cultural shifts. In this sense, loanwords can be seen as legacies of social, cultural and political change. In Arabic, the process of assimilating a word from another language is called Arabization. This can improve and expand or downgrade and narrow meanings. It can blend old and new meanings, or create entirely new words.